Judge orders hospital to halt life support for brain dead, pregnant woman

Sunday

A Fort Worth judge on Friday ordered John Peter Smith Hospital to grant the husband’s request to withdraw Marlise Munoz’s life support by 5 p.m. Monday.

As part of the ruling, state District Judge R.H. Wallace ordered the hospital to officially declare the 33-year-old Haltom City woman dead.

After the judge’s decision, Erick Munoz put his head down and sobbed quietly.

His mother-in-law, Lynne Machado, patted him on the back and cried with him.

Marlise Munoz collapsed Nov. 26 after possibly suffering a pulmonary embolism. The hospital acknowledged two days later that she was brain dead, but did not make an official pronouncement of death.

In a case that gained national attention, the hospital kept her body going with machines against her family’s wishes.

From the start, emotionally charged debate centered on end-of-life issues for a pregnant woman and the rights of the fetus.

JPS officials cited a Texas law that prohibits withdrawing life support from a pregnant woman and the state’s desire to protect the life of the unborn child.

Wallace said the law cited by the hospital did not apply to Marlise Munoz, because "Mrs. Munoz is deceased."

The order gives the hospital time to appeal.

Shortly after the ruling, hospital officials said they "will be consulting with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office." Assistant District Attorney Larry Thompson, who argued the case, did not comment.

Erick Munoz also declined to make a statement after the ruling, but attorney Heather King said the family "can now move forward."

When his wife fell ill, the Crowley paramedic resuscitated her and she was rushed to JPS.

On Nov. 28, the hospital agreed that she "met the clinical criteria for brain death" but refused to remove her from life support because she was 14 weeks’ pregnant.

The body has contracted several infections, and when Erick Munoz moves her in the bed, "she cracks," Janicek said.

When he leans down to kiss her forehead, she smells "like death," Janicek said.

When her breathing tube didn’t function fully, Erick Munoz refused a tracheotomy "and they went ahead and did it right in front of him," the lawyer said.

In an affidavit filed with the court, Erick Munoz described how he has had to "endure the pain of watching my wife’s dead body be treated as if she were still alive.

"As a married man," the affidavit said, "I became very familiar with the way Marlise’s body felt, the way her hair smelled, and the way her eyes appeared when we looked at each other among other things.

"Over these past two months, nothing about my wife indicates she is alive. When I bend down to kiss her forehead, her usual scent is gone.

"Finally, one of the most painful parts of watching my wife’s deceased body lie trapped in a hospital bed each day is the soulless look in her eyes. Her eyes, once full of the ‘glimmer of life,’ are empty and dead.

"My wife is nothing more than an empty shell."

Erick Munoz added that he is familiar with the sights and smells of death because of his work.

His wife was also a paramedic, and he said she made her wishes clear to him and her parents that she never wanted to be kept on life support.

The hospital pointed out that Marlise Munoz did not put her wishes in writing.

In the affidavit, Erick Munoz said, "I just want to put my wife’s deceased body to rest and provide peace for our family."

Janicek argued in court that the fetus "inside the dead body is not developing normally."

She said medical records indicate the fetus, which is 22 weeks and 5 days old, is deformed and suffers from hydrocephalus or excessive fluid on the brain.